New titles, additional venues for CCP National Theater Live Season 2

The second season of Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) National Theater Live (NTL) is off to a good start with new and returning theater productions to captivate audiences across three screening venues in Metro Manila and Cebu.

CCP NTL Season 2 kicked off with a special screening of Vanya, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, at Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt 3. Written by Simon Stephens and directed by Sam Yates, the play featured the acting prowess of actor Andrew Scott, known for his iconic role as Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock and the Priest in the TV Series Fleabag. Hopes, dreams, and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation which explores the complexities of human emotions.

“Andrew Scott is such a brilliant actor. The nuances, the clear shift between each character, and the fact that I could literally see them, see the different characters on stage. You can literally see the light in his eyes change,” said Fay Castro, who watched the special screening at Ayala Malls Cinemas.

Launched in June 2009, the National Theater Live is a groundbreaking project to broadcast the best of British theatre live from the London stage to cinemas across the United Kingdom, around the world, and now in the Philippine shore. Digitally filmed in high-definition quality, the NTL films their plays in front of live theater audiences, but optimized for the big screen and made accessible to theater fans across the globe.

Since 2023, CCP and Ayala Malls Cinemas have partnered to bring the best of British productions to the Philippine stage.

“This is the closest I can get to experiencing British productions. It is just so different to watch something on your gadget screen at the comfort of your own home and watching it in the cinema. You can see people’s reactions; you can react together with your fellow movie-goers, an experience that we can’t have at home,” shared Reine Paisley, another audience member.

Matthew Viray, a fan of the CCP NTL screenings, agreed, saying: “It is wonderful being able to watch it digitally, at home from the convenience and comfort of your own home. But it is different when you go to a physical space. It is different when you have a community, and I think it’s a wonderful thing that we can have these experiences again.”

Inclusive world-class theater experience for all

Paisley and Viray applauded the accessibility of CCP NTL to audiences in the Philippines.

“Having this opportunity to watch NTL productions here in Manila is great, and for an affordable price of P300,” Paisley said.

Viray, meanwhile, acknowledged how challenging it is to bring actual British productions to the Philippines. Having the CCP National Theater Live screening is a welcome option.

“It is so great to be able to see it in the cinema and especially on such a regular basis, too. It gives everybody an opportunity to see it,” Viray said.

Responding to strong clamor for re-screening of well-loved titles and new selections and sentiments of the public, CCP and Ayala Malls have once again joined hands for another season. This is not the first program the two institutions have collaborated on. CCP and Ayala Malls also co-present CCP’s The Met: Live in HD, in partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

CCP artistic director Dennis Marasigan expressed that global inclusivity and artistic excellence have always been part of CCP’s missions.

“If these programs contribute to the cultural development of the Philippines and improve our appreciation of artistic excellence, then CCP will deliver them to the Filipino audience,” Marasigan said.

CCP has found the right partner in Ayala Malls, which shares the same goal of bringing world-class entertainment to their audience.

“Ayala Malls has been offering its venues to make art and music of world-class caliber more accessible to all,” said people behind Ayala Malls.

Aside from being a new entertainment option for movie-goers and theater enthusiasts, Marasigan looked at the CCP NTL programming to help Filipino artists benchmark their own works and skills.

“If they see how productions are done in these two cultural capitals, New York and London, they could get inspired as artists and producers, and perhaps it could elevate how we do productions here in the Philippines, at par with the British theater we see on the screen,” he said.

Bountiful second season

After a successful first season boasting waves of support from theater enthusiasts, playwrights, artists, and the broader public, CCP NTL Season 2 is also now screening at Ayala Vertis North in Quezon City, and at the Ayala Center in Cebu from 25 June 2024 to 27 May 2025. Award-winning plays Vanya, Dear England, The Motive and Cue, and Nye will grace the big screens in the Philippines. Crowd favorites Fleabag, King Lear, Frankenstein, and Hamlet from the past season will make their comeback.

On 30 July, James Graham’s Dear England arrived at the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt, Makati. With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt, to take the team and country back to the promised land.

The contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play King Lear was also screened on 30 July at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu. Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two aging fathers – one a King and another, his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends. The play is directed by Jonathan Munby and stars Sir Ian McKellen.

In Jack Thorne’s The Motive and Cue, audiences are offered a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. It comes to Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt on 27 August.

Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, plays the title role in an experimental new Broadway production of Hamlet under John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theater collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

Theater lovers and moviegoers at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu will have the chance to see Vanya on 27 August.

Directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, with adaptation by Nick Dear, Frankenstein will return to the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt, Makati on 24 September. The thrilling, deeply disturbing Mary Shelley classic combines scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil. Child-like in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful Creature determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.

Captured live on stage in 2011, the sold-out production stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, alternating between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. For 24 September, Miller is playing as the Creature.

The Motive and Cue will be shown at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu on 24 September.

On 30 October, Fleabag will return to the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt, Makati for the third time. Frankenstein, this time with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature, will premiere at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu on same day.

Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Vicky Jones, Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose. The hilarious, award-winning play that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series with the same title was filmed live on stage in London’s West End in 2019.

Witness Nye’s mind-bending life journey on 26 November at the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt. In Tim Price’s opus, Aneurin “Nye” Bevan confronted death in the eye, as he recollects his deepest memories from his childhood to mining underground, and his fights with Churchill.

Cumberbatch plays the title role of yet another great Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet, premiering on 26 November at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu. As the country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state. The play is directed by Lyndsey Turner.

Closing the 2024 CCP NTL’s lineup, Hamlet will return to the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt on 17 December. Dear England will premiere on the same day at Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu.

All screenings will be at 6 p.m. Regular ticket price is at P300 in Makati and Cebu, and P350 in Vertis North, while special ticket price for students is at P150.

This new season also brings exciting bundles and subscriptions for dedicated NTL fans. Audiences in groups can avail the Barkada Pass for P1,200 which includes five tickets at the price of four, while students can avail the Barkada Pass Student bundle at P600. Subscriptions for the full season cost P2,500 and P1,500 for the half season, allowing audiences 30 percent and 20 percent discounts respectively. Tickets can be purchased at sureseats.com.